Tuesday, December 14, 2010

This is the first - and so far as I can tell, the last - etching by the Boston-based marine painter Walter Franklin Lansil. We know exactly how it was executed, from a description by Sylvester Rosa Koehler, the first curator of prints at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. Koehler writes: "It is eminently 'home-made.' The ground was prepared according to the recipe given; the points used were a sewing-needle and a knitting-needle; the tray in which it was etched was made of paper covered with stopping-out varnish; even the plate (a zink plate, by the way) did not come from the plate-maker, but was ground and polished at home."

Walter Franklin Lansil, Ships in Boston Harbor

Etching, 1879

Walter Franklin Lansil was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1846. He studied originally under J. P. Hardy in Bangor, alongside his younger brother Wilbur. In 1872 the brothers moved to Boston, which remained their base. However in 1888 they headed for Paris, to study at the Académie Julian. Walter F. Lansil was profoundly influenced not by the Impressionists but by their precursors, the plein-air artists of the Barbizon School, and also by the Barbizon painter of Venice, Félix Ziem. Although the bulk of Walter Lansil's work reflects his home territory on the coast of New England, he continued to visit and paint Venice for the rest of his life. Ships in Boston Harbor (also known as Vessels in Boston Harbor) was made in 1879, before his time in Paris, but already shows the Barbizon influence. Walter Franklin Lansil died in 1925.

8 comments:

Interesting. At first glance it seems a bit of a blob, but then you look at it closely (and at a larger scale) and there are all kinds of things going on in there - hints of masts and rigging, details on sails, the figures on the boats, and so on. The rather shivery lines (and the only very sketchy reflections in the water) suggest to me a cold day, but who knows?

Yes, there's a lot more to this "essay" than appears at first glance. In a way, Lansil had arrived at Impressionism by a quite separate path. His etching was made for Koehler for an 1880 translated edition of Maxime Lalanne's Treatise on Etching, as my next post will make clear. It was quite brave, I think, to make a first etching with such primitive equipment, knowing it was going to be published for all other would-be etchers to see.

There is a lot of detail hidden in this piece. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has several works by Lansil, but none have been digitized. However, there is a painting of Lansil's studio by Ernesto Meneghelli (?)made during the 1880s. It's quite detailed and includes a few Japanese fans tacked to the wall.

The painting of Lansil's studio is fantastic, Jane. I don't think Lansil was an important artist in the sense of breaking new ground or having influence over others. But he was truly committed to his art, and created beautiful work.

Walter "Uncle Waddie" was my g-g-uncle. He resided in Dorchester on 101 Maxwell Street with (my g-g-grandfather) his brother Edwin Lansil's family (as did Wilbur). Family lore is that Edwin paid for his brothers to travel to Europe to pursue their art careers.

Walter was interested in genealogy - he joined the Son's of the American Revolution through his mother Betsy's ancestor Amos Grout. He was also eligible to join the Mayflower Society through his grandmother Ruth Paine (originally of Truru) a descendant of Stephen Hopkins.

His grandfather was Charles V. Lansil originally of France who was a seaman in Bangor, ME, he drowned in the 1830's.

Best of all, Uncle Waddie taught my grandmother Edith Anna (Haines) Hall to paint!! She was 19 when he died - she went on to be quite the artist! My family treasures her work! I have one of Walter's paintings and my cousin has one of Wilbur's.....